As Connor mentioned a while back, words, and these freaky pictures, don’t do these places justice, but it’s all I have got in this cyber world to entertain you with.
A 7 hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale (oh yes, after a 9 hour flight from Chile) may seem a long way to go. But there I was, relaxing with my family in the delicious (but murky then) 27deg C water of Ft. Lauderdales beaches, after a very successful “trick or treating” the night before. The urge to dive was strong within me (say in a Darth Vader voice).
Point is, it was hard to set out alone in the rental car and drive 7 hours to dive in a swamp, but I had the feeling that it would be a great experience. Better put this way: whenever I have done this crazy stuff I have always had a blast. So I drove, Connor (Cdavis) graciously offering me an overnight at his place to break up the journey.
5:30AM and we are off. Sandwiches, deet, old trainers (sorry “sneakers”) and more deet. And a disposable camera (thanks Connor!) that replaced what I should really have brought.
First stop (3 hours drive!) The Nest: a simple looking pond: ducks, weed and all, no one there but us. Clear blueness starts breaking through the previously white sky. Near the middle of the “pond” is a 1 to 2M dia. keyhole that leads to another dimension. See the drawing bellow. 10M to the key entrance, 10M through (!) and you are in a big black world. Fresh water, not sure on how much lead to use, diving into the dark… what a recipe! We dropped 120ft (37M) of dive line down through the hole to which, brilliantly, Connor affixed a scuba safety strobe. It was the only point of reference.
We took it in turns diving and safety. I am a rookie. I needed to get through that hole into the chamber bellow, and I knew I could handle the depth, yet had not been bellow 25M since April. I pushed the ears quite hard, but arrived at 30M, just off the strobe. Looking around, then up, it was spooky: just the light above, rope, and a few “false” exits from the chamber that I really did not want to take. Letting go of the rope to take some pictures and I fell quite fast. Why does freshwater seem to make you fall faster? Just me? It was scary not to have the rope in my hand, and that was part of our dive plan: don’t leave the line. The chamber water was several degrees warmer. Connor later told me that I was only 5M or so from the rubble pile on the bottom of the cave.
Connor dove the nest like a pro, FRC dives (a little over half lung on the deeper shots) and progressed smoothly, with easy recoveries. A great session, too great, mind blowing, and we are off to another spot: “the swamp”
Another hours drive: deet and wetsuit bottoms on, and Connors old sneakers, and it was off through the swap, fins underarm, masks, line, snorkel etc. pretty much out of place for the scenery, but after the previous session “normal Freediving” was already a blurred definition.
Mud up to the waist in some spots, we arrived at an oval pit not more than 15M long by 4 wide. Clear water, very, very clear. "Gin clear" was a description I enjoyed from my host. The entrance to the cave was about 2M round and covered by two fallen dead trees, duckdiving between them, with my rookie style, would make it to those “blooper” movies that are just so hilarious (not). Now here we had 50M viz (we attempted to calculate). The chamber goes down and back, and I was wondering why 25 to 30M dives seemed quite hard. For the record: a dive at a 45 degree angle is harder than a straight down one :duh.
As we set up, this time a shorter line, the sunshine cracks through the tall trees and illuminates the largest boulder back on the chamber floor: a rock about 3M round, white limestone, “the throne” we dubbed it. It called. It tempted. Rays of sunlight guiding and pointing to its flattish upper. I had to sit on it, and dove, got lost and alighted on a pile off white boulders, deeper and to one side. Looking up was amazing, the chamber walls white, the fallen logs, the silhouette of Connor safetying up top. It was a toughish dive and I was again pushing my ears (rookie).
Connor went for, and accomplished the throne too, his deepest FRC dive he later told me, with ease. We carried on diving there for a couple of hours. As my ears closed up more I would explore further horizontally, seeing the air bubbles, mercury like, trapped above me in the limestone crevices.
What a day. Was that a 30 minute drive? Can’t remember. The diving I’ll have with me for the rest of my years.
I actually like the pictures: non standard, for a very non-standard environment.
Thanks Connor.
OBLIGATORY NOTE: caving is hard enough without doing it on breathold, don’t try it, don’t go into overhead scenarios. This is just a story for your enjoyment and not a recommendation or endorsement.
A 7 hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale (oh yes, after a 9 hour flight from Chile) may seem a long way to go. But there I was, relaxing with my family in the delicious (but murky then) 27deg C water of Ft. Lauderdales beaches, after a very successful “trick or treating” the night before. The urge to dive was strong within me (say in a Darth Vader voice).
Point is, it was hard to set out alone in the rental car and drive 7 hours to dive in a swamp, but I had the feeling that it would be a great experience. Better put this way: whenever I have done this crazy stuff I have always had a blast. So I drove, Connor (Cdavis) graciously offering me an overnight at his place to break up the journey.
5:30AM and we are off. Sandwiches, deet, old trainers (sorry “sneakers”) and more deet. And a disposable camera (thanks Connor!) that replaced what I should really have brought.
First stop (3 hours drive!) The Nest: a simple looking pond: ducks, weed and all, no one there but us. Clear blueness starts breaking through the previously white sky. Near the middle of the “pond” is a 1 to 2M dia. keyhole that leads to another dimension. See the drawing bellow. 10M to the key entrance, 10M through (!) and you are in a big black world. Fresh water, not sure on how much lead to use, diving into the dark… what a recipe! We dropped 120ft (37M) of dive line down through the hole to which, brilliantly, Connor affixed a scuba safety strobe. It was the only point of reference.
We took it in turns diving and safety. I am a rookie. I needed to get through that hole into the chamber bellow, and I knew I could handle the depth, yet had not been bellow 25M since April. I pushed the ears quite hard, but arrived at 30M, just off the strobe. Looking around, then up, it was spooky: just the light above, rope, and a few “false” exits from the chamber that I really did not want to take. Letting go of the rope to take some pictures and I fell quite fast. Why does freshwater seem to make you fall faster? Just me? It was scary not to have the rope in my hand, and that was part of our dive plan: don’t leave the line. The chamber water was several degrees warmer. Connor later told me that I was only 5M or so from the rubble pile on the bottom of the cave.
Connor dove the nest like a pro, FRC dives (a little over half lung on the deeper shots) and progressed smoothly, with easy recoveries. A great session, too great, mind blowing, and we are off to another spot: “the swamp”
Another hours drive: deet and wetsuit bottoms on, and Connors old sneakers, and it was off through the swap, fins underarm, masks, line, snorkel etc. pretty much out of place for the scenery, but after the previous session “normal Freediving” was already a blurred definition.
Mud up to the waist in some spots, we arrived at an oval pit not more than 15M long by 4 wide. Clear water, very, very clear. "Gin clear" was a description I enjoyed from my host. The entrance to the cave was about 2M round and covered by two fallen dead trees, duckdiving between them, with my rookie style, would make it to those “blooper” movies that are just so hilarious (not). Now here we had 50M viz (we attempted to calculate). The chamber goes down and back, and I was wondering why 25 to 30M dives seemed quite hard. For the record: a dive at a 45 degree angle is harder than a straight down one :duh.
As we set up, this time a shorter line, the sunshine cracks through the tall trees and illuminates the largest boulder back on the chamber floor: a rock about 3M round, white limestone, “the throne” we dubbed it. It called. It tempted. Rays of sunlight guiding and pointing to its flattish upper. I had to sit on it, and dove, got lost and alighted on a pile off white boulders, deeper and to one side. Looking up was amazing, the chamber walls white, the fallen logs, the silhouette of Connor safetying up top. It was a toughish dive and I was again pushing my ears (rookie).
Connor went for, and accomplished the throne too, his deepest FRC dive he later told me, with ease. We carried on diving there for a couple of hours. As my ears closed up more I would explore further horizontally, seeing the air bubbles, mercury like, trapped above me in the limestone crevices.
What a day. Was that a 30 minute drive? Can’t remember. The diving I’ll have with me for the rest of my years.
I actually like the pictures: non standard, for a very non-standard environment.
Thanks Connor.
OBLIGATORY NOTE: caving is hard enough without doing it on breathold, don’t try it, don’t go into overhead scenarios. This is just a story for your enjoyment and not a recommendation or endorsement.
Attachments
Last edited:
